A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a
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Offl<strong>in</strong>e Textbook | A <strong>Foundation</strong> <strong>Course</strong> <strong>in</strong> Read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>German</strong><br />
https://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/wp/read<strong>in</strong>ggerman/pr<strong>in</strong>t-entire-textbook/<br />
Page 37 of 151<br />
12/8/2017<br />
Die Sonne geht am Abend unter.<br />
The sun sets <strong>in</strong> the even<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Here is a list of common separable prefixes:<br />
ab off, down, away über over<br />
auf up, open um around<br />
aus out umher around<br />
e<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> unter down<br />
empor up vor ahead, forward<br />
entgegen toward, to vorbei past, by<br />
fest fast, firm vorüber past<br />
fort away weg away<br />
heim home weiter on, farther<br />
her here, towards wieder back, aga<strong>in</strong><br />
h<strong>in</strong> there, away from zu to, toward; shut<br />
mit along, with zurück back<br />
nieder down zusammen together<br />
You can see that prepositions are the most common separable prefix, and some are<br />
not prepositions at all. Your challenge is to use what you’ve learned so far about<br />
<strong>German</strong> syntax to recognize when a word is apparently function<strong>in</strong>g as a separated<br />
verbal prefix.<br />
Po<strong>in</strong>ts to remember:<br />
1. The prefix appears after the predicate. From now on you will need to f<strong>in</strong>ish<br />
read<strong>in</strong>g to the end of each sentence or clause before you can be certa<strong>in</strong> about<br />
the mean<strong>in</strong>g of any conjugated verb. If you f<strong>in</strong>d a prefix there, you must<br />
associate it with the conjugated verb and consider the mean<strong>in</strong>g of, for<br />
example, aufgehen, not of gehen. If you are try<strong>in</strong>g to locate the verb <strong>in</strong> a<br />
dictionary, this can be a very important difference.<br />
2. Likewise, you can decide whether a word appear<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the middle of a sentence<br />
is a verbal prefix or not by identify<strong>in</strong>g the roles of the words after it – if they<br />
start a whole new statement, then perhaps this word is <strong>in</strong>deed a verbal prefix.<br />
Here’s an example <strong>in</strong> which a s<strong>in</strong>gle subject is shared between two statements,<br />
both us<strong>in</strong>g a separable-prefix verb: